AN independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding last week's horrific fatal crash in Kingswinford has got underway.

The West Midlands Police Serious Collision Investigation Team continues to investigate the single car crash, which left four young people dead., and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has now also begun an investigation into the events that led up to the tragedy as a police car was said to be in the vicinity at the time and was seen being transported from the scene after the incident.

Driver Joshua Parkes, aged 21, and teenaged passengers Lucy Tibbetts and Izzie Floyd, both 16, died at the scene of the smash in Bromley Lane after the yellow Skoda Fabia they were travelling in hit a tree - and fellow passenger Nathan Cartwright died on Saturday despite the efforts of medics at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital to try to save his life.

Stourbridge News: Clockwise from top left: Lucy Tibbetts, Izzie Floyd, Joshua Parkes and Nathan Cartwright.Clockwise from top left: Lucy Tibbetts, Izzie Floyd, Joshua Parkes and Nathan Cartwright.

Another passenger, named on social media as Izzie Ramsell, remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital, police confirmed today.

West Midlands Police said specialist family liaison officers continue to support the families of all involved and a spokesman for the force added: "Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of all involved."

The force has said early investigations established "the police vehicle was not in the immediate vicinity of the Skoda Fabia at the point of collision" and the spokesman confirmed the IOPC has begun an investigation into the circumstances that led up to the tragedy - adding: "The police vehicle was transported from the scene to ensure that all relevant diagnostic evidence could be recovered to assist the investigation, as is normal procedure."

A spokesman for the IOPC said its investigation would "thoroughly examine the circumstances including any interaction there may have been between police and the Skoda prior to the collision" and added: "We sent investigators to the scene and the police post-incident procedure to carry out an assessment, however our enquiries are still at a very early stage. Our sympathies remain with all those affected by this tragic incident."